The One In Which
by chugster
Summary: The one in which Near is Wrong and Gevanni has Feelings is the slightly longer title. And that's pretty much what's to come; a fluffy story of how these two might have found each other. Near/Gevanni, slash obviously.


_Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note._

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**The one in which Near is Wrong, and Gevanni has Feelings**

"Agent Gevanni. Why are you still here?"

Gevanni startled from his thoughts to the low and steady voice of his chief, Near. The moments when Near felt it was necessary to talk about non-work related matters to his employees were few and far between, and Gevanni couldn't imagine what it was that had drawn the attention of his young chief to him. He turned around in his office chair to find Near still slumped in a heap of white in the middle of their office, still surrounded by his toys, but staring at him through the fringe of his over-grown hair with his piercing eyes. Something had definitely caught his attention, and Gevanni felt unnerved to be the target of such intense scrutiny.

"Near. I was working still, going through the investigation reports from yesterday. Shouldn't be long anymore, it's almost done now."

"But surely you have a home, somewhere to be, other than here. You have stayed later than everyone else for weeks now; doing things that could well be done later. This case is not so urgent that you couldn't go home and do things that have nothing to do with work, just like the rest of the team does. So why don't you?"

Near had the same look on his child-like face he had when he'd been given a new puzzle to solve, when he had all the pieces in front of him and was just looking at them to figure out the right order in which to put them in. Except now it seemed that one of his pieces had gone missing, or was the wrong shape and didn't quite fit with the rest of the pieces. The puzzle was incomplete, and that just didn't do.

"Well," Gevanni said, well aware that his behaviour was out of the norm, and really, he should have known that Near would soon figure out that something wasn't right, even if he didn't usually much care about what his employees did on their own time.

"I don't really have anything to do at home on my own. Besides, I'm much more useful in here, working on the case and I don't mind the extra hours, I really don't," he finished assuring the young man. Near didn't have to know it in detail, but the reason he stayed at work late and didn't have much personal life outside the office, was that he hated going into his empty flat, all by himself, making dinner for one, watching TV and having no-one to laugh at the funny parts with, going to the too-big and always-cold bed by himself, and waking up equally alone, having to make his own morning sounds instead of listening to those made by another person. That he'd much rather stay here, with Near, even if the boy didn't usually recognize his presence at all. Not before today anyway.

"I don't think you're telling me the whole truth there, agent Gevanni," Near said and tilted his head slightly to his right. His hand rose into his hair and started tugging and twirling the strands around his thin white fingers with an ease of an old habit.

"I don't know what you're talking about, sir. I just like my work, nothing more to it," Gevanni said to Near, averting his eyes and unconsciously mirroring Near's movement, rising his hand to rub at the back of his neck to lessen the tension there.

Near frowned at Gevanni's words. The tugging stopped in response to his employee's refusal to co-operate with him. The whole world seemed to hold its breath for a second, and then Gevanni turned swiftly back to his report with a mumbled apology, slight blush tinting his cheeks a lovely shade of pink.

He waited for some time for the reprimand he knew was coming, since no-one lied to Near. At least not anyone in their small team and certainly not right in his face like that. He felt the tension growing in the silence, his shoulders creeping towards his ears and his neck slowly but surely turning to stone as he waited.

Then he felt a small change in the air, a presence behind him, and that was all the warning he got before small hands came to rest on his shoulders. Such small hands, with no force in the touch whatsoever, and Gevanni almost jumped to his feet with a shout of surprise. However, he had had some training in how to function in unusual situations, so he controlled himself remarkably well and simply twitched a little when he felt the contact. As far as he knew, Near had never touched anyone if it wasn't absolutely necessary.

"Why are you spending so much time here, when you could be out there?" Near asked quietly, almost like he was talking to himself rather than expecting an answer. The hands were now smoothing the shirt underneath them, drawing small circles into Gevanni's skin, coaxing the muscles underneath to release their tension.

Gevanni couldn't have really answered to Near anyway, since he was too busy listening to the voices inside his head screaming that _his nearly under-aged male chief was touching him _and wasn't that just inappropriate in every possible way there was to imagine? Then there was the realization that the hands felt really good, closely followed by another scream of _you filthy pervert!_ and this time he did get out of his chair and jumped up, dislodging Near's hands in the process.

"Wha- You- That's not. I-" Gevanni stopped, ran his hands through his hair and took a couple of deep breaths. Near didn't seem much disturbed by Gevanni's confused response to his actions, and was in fact leaning against the back of Gevanni's now deserted office chair casually, his arms on the headrest and his chin resting against his hands. His body was almost completely covered by the chair, and he was staring at Gevanni with a peculiar gleam in his bright eyes.

"I think I know now. It's because of me, isn't it? You're always here when I am. You find it embarrassing to tell me the real reason to your staying here, working, while you could be doing something you really enjoyed. And now, your breathing has increased, pulse nearly doubled and you appear flustered and confused, when all I did was touch you. I can only conclude that the reason you spend so much time here, is that you enjoy being here more than anywhere else. And the thing that is here, that is nowhere else but here, is... me."

Near looked at Gevanni expectantly, waiting for a conformation on his clever deductions.

Instead, Gevanni was feeling sick to his stomach. He felt somehow betrayed; thinking that Near thought so little of him, that to him he'd become some kind of dirty old man, harassing the younger co-workers. Or in this case, his significantly younger chief. And then there was the deep embarrassment he felt since Near seemed to take this so lightly, and to treat him like he too was yet another mystery for him to solve, a puzzle, a case. He tried to deny the fact that what Near was telling him was more or less exactly what he'd been doing here, but at the same time he knew that Near was also far from the mark presuming that his feelings had been in any way sexual for the past few weeks. Part of his strong response to Near's touch was because of pure surprise, but partly also because he'd never before thought of Near _that way_ and was frankly quite horrified at himself for even thinking of such things about this fragile creature in front of him. It definitely was not because he'd been harbouring some schoolboy crush on Near for weeks, like the young detective appeared to be thinking.

And still Near kept staring at him in silence.

"No," was all he had the presence of mind to tell for him, however, since he suddenly felt far too tired to get into a lengthy discussion about the dynamics of their relationship, like he'd probably end up doing if he stayed with Near a moment longer.

"No? But... I'm never wrong." Near whispered, clearly shocked at the discovery.

"No. I really wasn't- I mean, I haven't thought of you like that at all. At least not for the past weeks. And not now either, only when you touched- I mean. I'm sorry," Gevanni said miserably, "I'm not making much sense. The point is that I haven't been hanging around here to get into your pants or anything like that _at all_. And I won't be doing so in the future either, if it bothers you."

"Trying to get into my pants?" asked Near confusedly.

"No, nonono. Not that either, of cause, but I haven't been doing that in the first place. I won't work overtime anymore, that's what I meant. Sir. " Gevanni was now babbling, he knew that much, and was sure that it wouldn't end well for any of the two involved in this mess. He started to move, to gather his things and to leave, when he felt the familiar hand again, this time clutching at his arm.

Then Near was there, standing far too close and looking up at him with serious eyes.

"No. Please stay. I misread your clues, I'm sorry. No reason for you to stop working if that's what you want to do." He then dropped his gaze onto the floor, and shuffled his sock-covered feet a little, as if he were nervous. "I don't want you to go," he then mumbled to his feet, and Gevanni had a hard time hearing every word, and then even harder time convincing himself that he hadn't misheard any of those.

Gevanni released a breath he hadn't realised he was holding, and sat down into the chair again. He took both Near's hands in his and really looked at the young man standing in front of him, fidgeting and refusing to meet his eyes. He really looked quite lovely like this, and not like a child at all, Gevanni realised with a startling clarity. He wanted to hold him and protect him and make him happy, and at the moment, the young man wasn't looking happy at all.

"Fine. I'll stay."

Near stopped all movement and snapped his eyes up to meet Gevanni's. A smile tugged the corners of his lips upwards, and he seemed to positively glow for a moment. Then he let out a happy sound and clambered into Gevanni's lap, reaching towards him and sighing contently when Gevanni wrapped his arms around the smaller figure.

"I knew you'd stay. I was counting on it, actually," Near said to Gevanni and raised a hand to twine into his dark hair. "I've had an awful schoolboy crush on you for ages, and I was trying to figure out how to best proceed with it. Then you started to stay with me after work, so I got a bit carried away, thinking that you'd feel the same. But I'm glad that you're starting to feel that way about me too now," he concluded and nuzzled his face into Gevanni's shirt.

"Yes. Me too," said Gevanni and tightened his hold of Near, not ever wanting to go home alone again, and not having to either, not anymore.

Fin.


End file.
